My Dear Child
by Goodbringer
Summary: The showdown between Sophie and Alice. Alice's POV.


**My Dear Child**

Didn't she know I loved her? Why wouldn't she see we were of the same flesh and blood?  
I could sense Sophia from far away with all that temper. Her thoughts were struggling to keep together and connect to each other. She was confused, angry and horrified. But also sad. Or was it disappointment over me? She felt deceived and cheated on, that what for sure. But then again; I hadn't told her what I was.  
At first it had been a little game I played with her – waiting for her to find out. But as time went by and she didn't had suspected the slightest sign, had she failed to my expectations. She was coming closer and it seemed like as if the headmistress and the manager was coming after her. Fools. If they sought out death, then that would be exactly what waited for them.

I was training with Elodie when my great-granddaughter arrived. She was exhausted and had to bend over and lean to her knees to catch her breath. I noticed that she had gone outside without shoes or socks on and I let out a small sign. She should know better than this. The poor little thing could catch a terribly cold or even worse; hurt her tiny feet on the sharp rocks.  
She stood up and looked at me. I looked back at her. For the first time did I notice how much she had actually grown over the year, how much she had matured. She wasn't the little, scared, inexperienced witch that I had seen in the beginning of her semester. Sophia had put her awkward teenage-self away and had come to help her friend.  
Hah, _friend?_ I had seen what Elodie thought of her. I had seen the horribly things that only a psychopath would do to another girl. It had been my plan for Sophia to devour on Elodie, but now that they had grown close (and now that Sophia figured out my little secret, at last…) I knew that it was hopeless. She'd never taste the sweet liquid of revenge.

"Elodie," she said without taking her eyes from mine. I could see she was scared. "I think we should go back to the school. Mrs. Casnoff is looking for you."

"No she's not," Elodie responded. She pulled her necklace out from beneath her shirt. "It glows when somebody is looking for you and tells me who it is. You see?"  
I couldn't see the name from here but I figured that it could only be Sophia's.

"A heirloom, eh?" I smiled and looked back at my little Sophia. "Oh, Sophia, don't be jealous."

"I'm not jealous," she said a little too fast. "I just think Elodie and I should return to the school now."

I read her mind at the spot and it showed me a long series of pictures of her recent actions. How she had told her vampire friend to alarm the headmistress and the cute manager. But she wasn't as afraid anymore as she had been on her way out here. But she was still afraid. I sniffed in the air and located the reinforcement duo that Sophie had called for. I looked back at her and smiled.

"You're afraid Sophia," I said. "Why in the world would you be afraid of me?"

"I'm not afraid," she responded and broke the little eye contact-battle for dominance we had had.

I looked sharply at her. "You've brought uninvited visitors. Why have you done that, Sophia?" I said and tried to trig her off. To make her loose it or give her a break down. To make her see clearer. Her friends were not a problem. She was by far the biggest thread of them all.  
I cast a curse on the trees around and it spread out to the other trees like a plague. Their branches grew thicker and tangled into each other. They grew sharp thorns and massive vines that closed the rest of the world out from us, and made an impervious wall around us. Now we could run our business with no-one to interrupt us.

"Have you led Casnoff here?" Elodie asked. Well except for her. I was once again locked in an eye contact-battle with Sophia, but would deal with Elodie soon enough.

"I know what you are," she said firmly but I kept my smile on my lip.

"You do?" I teased her.

"A demon."

I must have literally burst into laughter. It was hilarious at times, the dear irony! My little Sophia had finally figured out what I was, _and_, what she was! A little secret that Elodie and I had kept hidden for some time now, although Elodie didn't know Sophia and I were related. Another hilarious thing was the way she said it; you would have believed that she by now had gotten used to the magical environment around her but the accusation still sounded like something she didn't even believe herself.

"You actually did summon a demon," Sophia said to Elodie and she nodded.

"We didn't have a choice," she insisted. "You heard what Mrs. Casnoff said: our enemies grow stronger all the time. I mean, for God's sake Sophia, they reversed one of ours and turned him against us! We had to be prepared." She made it sound like it was the most natural thing, but I knew she had no understanding of what she actually had done.

"So what?" Sophia asked with a trembling voice. "You let her kill Holly!?"

Elodie looked down. "A blood sacrifice is the only way you can bind a demon," she said and looked at Sophia liked she was going to cry. Pathetic.  
"It wasn't supposed to kill Holly. We knew that we had to be four to control the demon and get it to do what we wanted. But we needed blood. So we cast a sleeping spell on her and Chaston and made two holes in her neck with a knife. We thought that we could stop the bleeding before it was too late, but she bled _so much_."

"You could have gotten blood from many places elsewhere," Sophia said. "You took it from her neck, so that you could blame Jenna. Two birds with one stone, eh?" She continued. "I think you killed Holly, but you then let everyone believe it was Jenna. You even got me doubting her."

"I thought it _was_ her that had attacked Chaston and Anna," Elodie said and a tear ran down her one cheek. "We just thought that the ritual had failed. I hadn't seen Alice before the evening with you, I swear."

Sophia looked back at me and I kept smiling. I tried to read fear in her face and mind but couldn't see anything. I was quite proud of my little Sophia.

"Why didn't you show yourself for them?" she asked.

I shrugged. "They were a waste of time. They got me out of Hell, but I didn't feel for serving three school girls." I said and quickly stunned Elodie with a paralyzing spell without taking my eyes from my great-granddaughter.  
"I wonder why it took you so long to figure it out," I said and she kept looking at me, "You should be such a clever girl Sophia, but you couldn't even recognize the difference between a ghost and a demon? Or was there more than that?" I asked her softly. I knew I had to play my cards wisely now.  
I flipped my hand a little and Elodie screamed as she flew through the air and landed roughly somewhere. I held her down with my magic to make sure she wouldn't get up any time soon.  
I had never liked Elodie, mostly because of the things she had done to my Sophia but also for being a little, cocky, foul-mouthed excuse for a dark which. I had to admit that she was learning fast and she was brave enough to come visit a demon almost every night, but that didn't mean I'd let her live. My two last attacks had been planned out, I wouldn't kill Chaston or Anna – it would have had much more drastically consequences for the vampire girl that Sophia liked so much, and with her taken away could Sophia in worst case have left the school.  
But now I didn't see any reason to let Elodie live or breath. If Sophia wouldn't do it, I would.

"You know what I think, Sophia? I think you knew what I was, but you wouldn't face it. For if I am a demon, _what does it make you_?" I smiled slightly when the fear returned to her body.  
"I've waited so long for you, Sophia," I said to calm her down. It did not, to my surprisingly grief, have the big effect. I wanted to hold her and tell her that it would be alright but it didn't seem as the right time, so I just smiled.

"But…_ why_?" she whispered almost inaudibly.

In a split second I thought of giving it all up. Just to let Elodie go and give in to Sophia. To surrender and live the life I had missed for so long; like a part of a family. A part of something.  
But no.  
Heaven (and hell) forbade that. I was an escaped prisoner and a monster that couldn't go around humans in their own world. And if they wanted a monster, they'd get a monster. I was not going back to hell. Never!

"Because we're family." I whispered back and forced all my raw power into one magical blast.  
It took a lot to hurt another demon, even if it was only quarter, but she was knocked back through the air.  
"I'm sorry that I had to do that to you," I told her and went to Elodie's body. "but you can't get in my way now."  
I kneeled down next to Elodie and turned her around so I could look at her. She had her eyes closed, no wonder, but I forced them up so she could look at me. Her body was all sweaty and shaky but I held her tight and placed her head in my lap while I softly stroke her down her hair. I should maybe thank her for freeing me, but what did it matter? I moved my hand down towards her neck and grew my forefinger nail and middle finger nail into long needle like claws. I smiled gently down to Elodie and stroke her hair a last time before I shot my claws through her soft skin and into her neck. I moved the girl's body closer to my face and sniffed in the scent of my prey. The greatest thing about feeding on these _dark witches_ (cough) was how they filled with me with all their life energy. It was also a nice feeling to have warm food for once, that wasn't covered in fur.  
Drinking Elodie's blood was like biting into a tomato and sucking out all the liquid until it got all dry and wrinkled, except that this wasn't tomato juice of course. Such a shame, Elodie had had such a pretty face.

I wiped my mouth and stood up after I had finished. I went to Sophia who finally opened her eyes. I had mistaken her: she wasn't demon enough if this trifle had made her look away. I felt her get up, run over to Elodie's corpse, sit down and take her hand. I simply stared at where she had sat. It all happened as if in slow motion around me, and I'm sure I could have heard my heartbeat rung inside my head if I had had one. This was nothing like I had planned it to be.  
After Sophia made her human mends or whatever it was, let I a dry laugh out that made her turn around. If this is going to end in blood then let it be, I thought and smiled for myself.  
"Of all the gifts you could have given me, I must say; this one is the best by far."

Sophia got up slowly. "Gifts?"

"The night you took her with you out here was I sure that she had figured what I actually was. It was nice of you to bring her with you and spare me for the risk of getting caught on that horribly school."  
I could see she was mad so I laughed again.  
"Now that I've gotten my full strength back are we unstoppable, Sophia. Nothing will be out of our grasp!" I don't know if she was listening, but I was also mostly talking to myself. After so many nights in these God forsaken woods would I finally be able to take over the school, which had been my plan from the beginning. I'd slay the headmistress Casnoff as the first one, her powers were no match for mine, and then slowly wipe out each teacher one by one. And once the teachers were gone… Oh the fun I'd have with the children. And if that Council of theirs ever showed up, was I sure that I could illusionary them into thinking nothing had changed, and once the parents started to worry would I be some entirely elsewhere. Because why only _one_ school?

"Break." I heard Sophia say and I snapped out of my thoughts. I looked over to see that she had broken the angel's demonglass blade with her magic. It didn't matter, she wouldn't be able to even touch it without burning off her skin. That was why I didn't mind this place so much and plus my grave was just nearby.

I dropped my jaw when she picked up one of the sharp broken pieces of glass. I saw it cut deep into her hand, blood flow and drip onto the grass and though a part of me wanted to embrace her, take the terribly glass away from her and take care of her wounds, was most of my instincts directed in a feral anger towards her and not least the glass.  
She confused me, but what could I do?  
Did she really think I was so naive that I didn't consider her a thread?  
"What are you doing, Sophia?" I asked.

Sophia closed her eyes and when she opened them she stood right in front of me with the piece of glass, her own blood dripping down on my dress. She held the broken sword over my face and I gave it a thought that her three quarters human body allowed her to not set on fire.  
I looked her into the eyes as she stood just above me. I had taken me by surprise, not only by the teleportation but the fact that she was indeed going to kill me now.  
"You did it!" I said, happily actually. I was so proud of my little Sophia. Maybe she wasn't so different from her old hag of a great-grandmother. Why would I have to test her? She was just perfect already.

"Yes. I did it." She said and lifted the dark demonglass. I closed my eyes and smiled.

* * *

I know that their sentences don't exactly match those in the books, but since I haven't read it on English did I just have to make a free translation. Also, feel free to comment if you like.


End file.
